


Gemini Rising: Scorpio's Sting

by dsa_archivist



Category: due South
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drama, M/M, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1999-05-14
Updated: 1999-05-14
Packaged: 2018-11-11 02:37:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11139474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dsa_archivist/pseuds/dsa_archivist
Summary: This story is a sequel toGemini Rising: Debt Collector.





	Gemini Rising: Scorpio's Sting

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Speranza, the archivist: this story was once archived at [Due South Archive](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Due_South_Archive). To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in June 2017. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Due South Archive collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/duesoutharchive).

Gemini Rising

  
Gemini Rising III : Scorpio's Sting  


Gemini Rising III:  
Scorpio's Sting  
by Red Skye  


*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Using the key Doug had presented him with, Ray slipped into the  
apartment and sniffed the air. By the smell of things Doug hadn't returned  
from his trip to Chicago yet.  
=Good, I've still got time.=  
He carried his shopping into the apartment and into the kitchen. There  
he left the bags on the bench before he went through the refrigerator,  
tossing out all the rotten food and out of date milk. The stench was  
horrible and he turned on the ventilation system over the chef style  
stove and went looking for air freshener. What he found instead was a  
oil burner and a collection of small bottles of various oil.  
Sniffing at each he smiled as he found the scent he recognized as being  
Doug's favourite. It always seemed to be wafting around the apartment  
when he visited. He set up the oil burner on the sink and then sorted  
through the shopping to replace all the rotten food, and set the French  
bread on the bench, finding the cutting board and pulling a bread knife  
from the knife block he started cutting up the bread in preparation for  
turning it into garlic bread. Then he rustled in Doug's spice collection  
finding the garlic salt and opened the refrigerator to grab the butter  
tub and frowned when it clinked, not only that it felt wrong.  
Pulling it out he opened the tub and did a double take at the myriad  
of bottles that had been hidden from sight in it. He did more than a  
double take when he began extracting bottles and saw the labels.  
"Sodium Penthahol!" He exclaimed in shock when he found that label on  
the first bottle.  
The contents of the remaining bottles were just  
as shocking and with a shaking hand he closed the tub and returned it  
to the refrigerator making sure he placed the tub back where it came  
from.  
=I don't wanna know why he has those drugs here=  
But he couldn't pretend he hadn't found them either and set about preparing  
the meal he'd planned on cooking to surprise Doug with on his return.  
Once he had the pots simmering away on the stove and the bread sliced  
up properly and packed into an air tight container he started searching  
the kitchen. First the refrigerator where he found more drugs and a selection  
of poisons in liquid and capsule form. Then the freezer where he found  
diamonds in the ice tray and quite an impressive jewelry collection behind  
the clever fake block of frosted ice at the back of the refrigerator.  
He sketched the design of some of the pieces in the note book  
from his coat and then replaced them before he refilled the ice tray  
with water and hoped it froze before Doug returned. Then he went on to  
the spice collection, opening jars to sniff his way through the collection  
and poked a kebab stick into each bottle to stir up the spices, which  
lead to him prying the caps off half a dozen and pouring their contents  
onto paper towels sifting them through the sifter as he went. He found  
small foil packets vacuum sealed in plastic in each of the bottles.  
He didn't even try to open them, the fact they were there was enough.  
He refilled the bottles carefully making sure the packets were restored  
and hidden away as they'd been. Then he began a full scale search of  
the kitchens various cupboards and drawers, looking for false bottoms  
and panels in all of them. And what he found was a plethora of them concealing  
everything from more drugs, six different kinds of poison, darts, a dart  
pipe, and weapons like six different kind of shuriken, stilettos, throwing  
knives, daggers, pistols and bullets ranging from the normal kind right  
through to the heavy duty Armour Piercing kind.  
=My g-d, this  
isn't a kitchen this is an armoury=  
The smell of burning food  
cut his explorations short and he raced back to the stove to move the  
burning pot to the sink, then back to the stove hitting buttons trying  
to get the fan over it to work faster, the next thing he knew the tiles  
under his feet shifted and then he was falling and sliding through a  
stainless steel tunnel to ended up landing in a heavily padded space.  
A light came on automatically and once he'd caught his breath he looked  
around. There were no doors or hatches of any kind that he could see,  
but there was a astrological design embedded along the wall in a strip  
that ran the length of the space he was trapped in.  
His hand flew  
to the pendant around his neck, and then he pulled the chain  
away  
and pressed the pendant into one of those stylized Gemini designs and  
heard a click and a whirr. Pulling the pendant back he looked around  
to see a panel slide away to the side, opening onto darkness at first,  
then as the panel reached the half way point, a light came on automatically.  
He wrapped the chain around his hand and scrambled to his feet to slip  
out into the slim space beyond and smiled when he saw the high speed,  
high powered bike and motor cyclists leathers that occupied that space.  
He ignored the leathers and gaped at the bikers dream machine, moving  
through the tiny room to squat down and run a hand over its body. He  
recognized the bike right off, it was a one off Italian Racing Bike,  
designed by his sister, built in Italy for power and speed, a real race  
machine. It had been Doug's most prized possession way back when they  
were both cadets at the academy.  
As his fingers ran over the sterling  
silver name plate, with its engraving he smirked. =Gemini Racer, I was  
wrong, about you being Gemini, it's not you it's Donna, but then again,  
you always did work *together* when it came to the important things.=  
"Like risking your life on a race track on this beast, to help her make  
a name for herself designing racing machines," he muttered to himself.  
The memories that machine brought back were both good and bad, and he  
couldn't believe he was seeing it again. He'd become its legal owner  
when Doug died in prison, his lawyer had delivered the bike and papers  
and bike to him. It was the one and only time he'd ridden it as the motor  
cyclist instead of a passenger on the back. He hadn't wanted to keep  
the bike, and given it to Donnatella when she came to the states to collect  
her brother's body and come after him to buy the bike back. He'd given  
it to her free and clear much to Angie's disgust considering how much  
Donnatella had offered to pay him to get the bike back.  
He just  
couldn't believe he was seeing this machine here, it was such an infamous  
machine. At least among the racing fraternity, and the ranks of the police  
from the 27th and the cadets who'd attended the academy. No one would  
forget the first time he'd shown everyone just how much power its custom  
built engine had, the speeds it could contain during a high speed pursuit  
up against a bandit in a stolen Porche. Ray knew he'd never forget it,  
he'd been on the back of the bike, when Doug did it. It had been the  
talk of the academy after, and it had earned them a warm welcome when  
they'd graduated and been assigned to the 27th the cops involved in that  
chase remembered Doug and his bike very, very well, so well he'd been  
assigned to the bike division and given an exemption to use his own bike  
on patrol because nothing on the streets could out race it.  
"I  
just don't believe it," Ray muttered as he rose and looked around.  
=Shipping that bike back was sheer insanity, anyone who sees him on this  
bike  
would recognise him in an instant, helmet or no helmet, hello, what's  
this?=  
He noticed there were two sets of leathers and helmets  
and as he approached them, his nose twitched, there was a scent that  
drew him toward the leathers, and he reached out to pull down one set  
to sniff at it.  
=What the hell?=  
He sniffed again. He definitely  
recognized the scent that clung to the leathers, and it wasn't one that  
Doug wore, the leathers were definitely cut for a woman to wear. The  
sent that seemed to permeate the leathers was extremely familiar to him,  
but he couldn't put a finger on why it was so familiar. Filling a mental  
note to visit a perfume counter to find out what the scent was, he replaced  
the leathers and then went looking for a way out.  
What he found  
was a winding stair case that was wrapped around a firemans pole. Climbing  
the stair case took him far up into the apartments structure and lead  
him to a slim hall that he followed all the way to a dead end. There  
he found another strip of astrological signs and put the pendant to use  
again. The panel before him slid to the side to reveal a walk in robe  
full of clothes and he pushed his way through and slid the door aside  
to find himself in Doug's bedroom and confronted with the man himself.  
"Dougie! You're back."  
Then the scent of burning food reached  
his nose and with a curse he raced out of the room. Doug moved in behind  
him to hit a hidden switch in the walk in robe and the panel slid back  
into place.

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Ray was well and truly starlted when the silent Doug moved up behind  
him, to nuzzle his ear as he stood at the sink feeding burnt food into  
the  
disposal unit.  
"Leave it."  
"But.."  
Doug reached  
out to take the pot and dumped it in the sink, upside down, then drew  
Ray away and back to the bedroom and from there to the bathroom where  
he made short work of stripping Ray down.  
Ray looked down at himself  
as Doug clucked and found an interesting assortment of bruises and friction  
burns he'd been too wrapped up in his discoveries to notice. Doug opened  
the bathroom cabinet to pull out a bottle or two and poured the contents  
into the spa bath and followed it up with a cube of herbal bath salts  
before he filled the tub and the room with fragrant steam.  
"I take it you were trying to get the fan to work when you hit the wrong  
button," Doug remarked.  
Ray nodded and Doug reached out to raise  
his hand and used his mouth to unwind the chain Ray had wrapped around  
it. Ray shivered and felt a frisson of pleasure run down his arm as Doug's  
mouth moved over his palm. Then the chain was gone, to clink on the sink  
top and Doug was urging him into the spa.  
He watched as Doug pulled  
a few more items from the bathroom cabinet, then stripped down to join  
him in the tub and a soft sea sponge came into play. He found Doug's  
TLC highly arousing and tried to turn it into love play but apart from  
one kiss that left his head spinning, Doug refused to make out in the  
tub.  
When he climbed out Doug pushed him into the shower and  
turned the cold water on full bore, making Ray shriek and effectively  
dealing with his arousal before he pulled him out and patted him down  
with a soft fluffy towel and began gently apply antiseptic cream to all  
the friction burns and followed it up by applying gauze and bandages  
to cover them.  
He watched as his pockets were emptied and crossed  
his fingers behind his back as his note book was tossed aside. It didn't  
fall open much to Ray's relief. The clothes were bundled up, and so was  
he in one of Doug's fluffy bathrobes. Then he watched Doug toss the clothes  
into the laundry chute, followed by his own suit.  
Then he was  
encouraged to go lie down on the bed, while Doug took care of everything  
else. Taking care of everything else being, the burnt food, arranging  
to have food delivered, and returning to the bedroom with a cup of herbal  
tea that Ray as assured would take away his aches and pains.  
"That  
bath did that," Ray said as he set it aside. Doug stretched over him  
reaching for the cup and Ray wrapped his arms around him and started  
nuzzling at his throat. Doug's fingers twitched around the cup then drew  
away, his hand delivering a light slap to Ray's chest.  
"Stop that."  
Ray gave him a love bite instead. And Doug sighed, and gave in as Ray  
followed it up by pushing him over to his back and straddled him to start  
making love to him.

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=* 

Ray sat in his car staring out the tinted windows his hands on the wheel,  
his thoughts on anything but driving away. He'd made many discoveries  
that day, not the least of which was that regardless of what he found  
in the apartment, he didn't want to end his association with Doug. He  
blushed as his thoughts drifted back to their love making. He admitted  
to himself for the first time that while he'd initiated it to distract  
Doug and make him forget all about how he'd found out Ray had discovered  
his secret escape hatches, there'd been nothing but a sincere desire  
to make love behind the love making that followed the demolition of the  
food being delivered. His blush deepened as he recalled how Doug  
had worshipped his body from head to toe. Just thinking about it made  
his groin ache and he was filled with the desire to climb out of the  
car and return to Doug's apartment to spend the rest of the night with  
him.  
=What the hell, I forget to ask him about how things went  
with Fraser, that's all the excuse I need to go back..=  
His hand  
found the seat belt clip and was releasing the belt as a bullet shattering  
the back window of the car scattered his thoughts and he slid down fast,  
scrambling down as low as he could get. More bullets followed, shattering  
every window and he scrambled across the midsection, and into the back  
of the car as another round of bullets followed, punching holes through  
the cars body.  
He pulled his own pistol out as another bullet  
ripped through the side of the car above his head. Then the shooting  
stopped and silence reigned. He scrambled to the door and peered through  
one of the holes that peppered it to see a figure slipping away into  
the shadows, moving away to disappear into the darkness. What he saw  
next was a incendiary device come sailing out of that darkness.  
=Ohmig-d!=  
He twisted around in a move that would do a contortionist  
proud and scrambled to the other side of the car as he heard it hit the  
cement and clatter as it rolled under his car, then as he scrambled out  
of the car he heard a laugh that chilled him to the bone echoing through  
the garage.  
=Alessandro=  
He dropped out in a low crouch  
then dived behind the thick cement support pillar to the side, and not  
a moment too soon, as he flattened himself behind it, the car exploded  
in a fire ball scattering shrapnel in all directions and a wave of incredible  
heat swept over him.  
  


*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

  


Thick acrid smoke that stung his eyes and made him cough  
uncontrollably combined with the heat that beat at him turning the now  
pitted and scorched post as he huddled behind it trying to gather his  
scattered wits.  
Scattered all around him the charred and flaming  
debris that were the legacy of the explosion, behind the pillar that  
was his shelter the wreckage of his car blazed white hot with flames  
that not even the remnants of the fire suppression systems that had automatically  
kicked in could put out. If anything it just seemed to add to the clouds  
of smoke that roiled through the enclosed area.  
=Gotta get up,  
gotta get out= the dazed man thought and tried to put those thoughts  
into action but his body wouldn't comply, it trembled like a sapling  
in a storm and pain assailed him from just about every point of his body.  
As he slumped back down in a trembling heap he looked at himself for  
the first time, and something other than a cough erupted from his throat  
as he saw smoke rising from his smouldering clothes, the red skin and  
blisters that covered his hands.  
=The heat, oh g-d, it's gonna  
cook me if I don't get outta here, fast!=  
With an extreme effort  
he pushed himself up, whimpering in pain between hacking coughs as he  
used the now blazing hot cement pillar for support to get to his feet.  
Survival first and foremost in his mind he took a step away from the  
pillar and cringed shielding his face as the incredible waves of heat  
the flaming wreck was giving off slammed into him once deprived of the  
shield that kept it somewhat at bay. A bullet whistled past him and he  
jumped back to the inadequate shelter of the pitted pillar.  
"You're  
not going to get away with this, Alessandro!" He cried out defiantly,  
then slid down that hot pillar to curl up arms wrapping around his ribs  
as a new fit of coughing racked his body.  
He heard Alessandro  
laughing that maniacal laugh of his over the roaring of the fire and  
the hissing of the fire suppression systems. Another bullet was fired  
and chipped the pole directly above his head and made him curl up into  
a tight little ball trying to put as much of himself behind it as possible.  
=If the heat doesn't kill me this smoke will= he thought as he fought  
to breath.  
Desperately his clawed at his shirt bringing it up  
to shield his mouth and nose. It wasn't much of a filter but it was the  
best he could do. In the back of his mind, the sound of a strident alarm  
registered. And gun shot.  
=Wha???= It was the *first* time he'd  
heard a shot. Had Alessandro changed weapons?  
=Just gotta hang  
on, help will arrive soon, he won't stick around to be caught, just gotta  
*????*=  
His thoughts scattered as he registered the pair of black  
biker boot clad feet that were moving towards him. Looking up through  
the roiling smoke, his watering eyes travelled up black leather clad  
legs, to a black leather clad torso that was reassuringly familiar. The  
leather clad man squatted down, his face hidden behind the black helmet  
with it's tinted eye shield.  
Then strong arms were sliding around  
his back and under his curled legs, and he was being lift and cradled  
against that muscular chest.  
=Doug=  
His vision blurred  
and dimmed and he was vaguely aware of being carried out away from the  
heat and smoke at a run, of hearing sounds, like the alarm and gun fire,  
his rescuer staggering, then awareness faded away as shock and toxic  
fumes took their toll and he passed out in his rescuer's arms.

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Fraser looked up as Jasmine set a parcel wrapped in brown paper on his  
desk.  
"This just arrived for you."  
"Thank-you, Jasmine."  
He reached for it and studied the package wondering what it contained.  
The label obviously printed out on an ink jet printer gave away nothing,  
and there was no return address. He looked at the postal stamp and smiled.  
=Ray=  
He ripped the paper away to reveal a video cassette case  
and there was another inkjet printed label with his name on it. Curious  
as to what was on the tape he pulled it out of the case and rose to go  
to the conference room where there consulate's television and video player  
were. Popping the tape into the VCR he hit play and moved to a seat to  
sit.

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Lieutenant  
Welsh was climbing out of his car out front of the Consulate,  
Stanley  
"Ray" Kowalski climbing out of the passenger side, when a high powered  
bike roared past and onto the pavement beside the door. Welsh did a double  
take and the Mountie on Sentry duty jumped back as it drew to a stop  
in front of him. The leather clad and helmeted rider struck out grabbing  
his belt and yanked him close to hiss in his face and slip an envelope  
in his belt, then shoved him away.  
As Welsh and Kowalksi approached,  
Kowalski drawing his gun, the Mountie caught his balance, spun on his  
heel and raced up the stairs to enter the consulate. Kowalski took aim  
at the biker and pulled out his I.D case. The biker looked around and  
took one look at Welsh gaping at him, then gunned the engine and roared  
off at high speed. Kowalski spun tracking him with the gun, and Welsh  
struck out forcing him to lower his arm.  
"What do you think you're  
doing?"  
"Isn't it obvious he threatened that Mountie."  
"I didn't see any weapons."  
"Ha, that bike looked pretty lethal  
to me."  
"It is, to anyone who tries to ride it," Welsh said absently  
as he turned away and headed up the stairs.  
"What's that supposed  
to mean?"  
Welsh stopped on the top step and looked back at Kowalski.  
"It's one of a kind, and you better pay attention because that Bike once  
belonged to Vecchio."  
"Vecchio owned that biker's wet dream!"  
Welsh smiled faintly at that description of the bike.  
"It belonged  
to Douglas Montray it was designed by his sister, Donna Montray, and  
built in Italy, it's a prototype racing bike, known as the Gemini Racer.  
They were an amateur race team who were one race away from going Pro  
on the European race circuit when Douglas immigrated to the states and  
brought that machine with him. Vecchio and Montray became fast friends  
at the police academy."  
"So this is someone I should know about."  
"A glare if anyone brings up Montray that should do it, that's how he  
reacted.. Montray was caught allegedly trying to steal heavy artillery  
from the weapons locker in the dead of the night and went to prison for  
it, and died there, his lawyer delivered the papers for that bike and  
the bike to Vecchio at the station. He rode it, once, to my knowledge,  
to take it home where it was locked up. When Donna came for her brother's  
body, she visited him and took possession of the bike. He gave it to  
her because he didn't want anything to do with him.. I heard he even  
destroyed half of his wedding photo's because Montray was in them."  
"He really took Montray's defection badly."  
"They fell out before  
Montray was caught.. I don't know the details, but it happened, about  
six weeks before it happened. Vecchio even got his shifts changed to  
clash with Montray's to avoid the man. He wanted absolutely nothing to  
do with him. There were plenty of rumours about why they fell out but  
Vecchio never confirmed any of them. "  
The doors opened and Fraser  
stepped out looking around.  
"Fraser."  
Fraser ignored them  
hurrying down the stairs and looked in both directions, then turned and  
looked at them.  
"Did you see where the biker who was here went?"  
The answer to that question was answered a moment later as the bike roared  
back into sight. Fraser spun looking around and when the bike pulled  
up at the curb he raced up to it. The biker jerked a thumb at the back  
and Fraser clambered over the back of the bike and the moment his arms  
wrapped around the biker's waist the bike roared away.  
As Welsh  
and Kowalksi gaped after them, the Sentry returned with a paper in his  
hands. He took one look at Welsh and tapped his shoulder. Welsh looked  
around and the Mountie handed him the paper. Welsh read it and cursed.  
"What is it?"  
"An Assassin made an attempt on Vecchio's  
life last night."  
Welsh waved the paper around.  
"He's in  
a critical condition in hospital."  
"Fraser said, that you should  
go to the conference room and collect the video cassette that's in the  
VCR," the sentry announced.  
Welsh and Kowalski looked at him.  
"It was a death threat from the same Assassin."  
  


*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Coming muzzily to his senses Ray was surrounded by a scent that made  
wonder why it was important to open his eyes and work out where it was  
coming from. A soft hand touching his shoulder as he moved, and an equally  
soft and familiar voice telling him to lie still, informing him he was  
safe, and in hospital gave him a name.  
He tried to speak but there  
was something in his throat.  
"Don't try to speak you were intubated,  
to help you breath."  
=Zat's what it is.=  
With a supreme  
effort he managed to open his eyes and winced, trying to raise an arm  
to shield them and found he was restrained, not only that, but trying  
to move *hurt*. Then she was leaning over him, and casting her shadow  
over him.  
"Don't move."  
He gurgled around the tube down  
his throat and felt her hand on his shoulder again.  
"Or try to  
speak, the doctor is coming just calm down, you're safe."  
Something  
slid free from the collar of her shirt and there was a glint of gold  
before his eyes that drew their attention and he absently wondered why  
Sheba was wearing the other half of the Gemini pendant that Doug had  
presented him with and where she got it. Not off Doug, that's for sure,  
he'd only seen that pendant once, suspended on a chain around the neck  
of his twin, Donnatella.  
=Of course, that's it=  
He mentally  
laughed, and imagined how disappointed the men of the syndicate would  
be to find out the luscious Sheba was Gemini's lover as he slipped back  
into blissful oblivion.  
  


*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Kowalski and Welsh watched as the service technician took the  
Consulate's VCR apart and pulled out a thoroughly chewed video tape.  
Welsh studied the tape and then wrapped the wrecked tape around the case  
and thanked the technician for his help before walking away with Kowalski  
on his heels.  
On side trip to a video editing studio later, Welsh  
slipped the spliced tape into the stations VCR and hit play to see the  
words, A day in the life of Armando Languansti appear on the screen.  
The title faded to be replaced with a through the window of a bedroom  
where Ray was rising from the bed, it skipped to a black and white view  
of a corridor with a date and time index and Ray was walking down the  
corridor in a dishevelled state, approaching a lift. He stepped into  
the lift, and the view shifted to another p.o.v this time inside the  
lift with the same date and time index. Welsh hit fast forward and the  
tape flashed through Ray's journey on the lift into the Car park where  
he climbed into his car, as the car exploded into a fire ball Welsh hit  
pause and rewound the tape to watch Ray climb into the car, belt up and  
put the key's in the ignition a moment before the car exploded into a  
fire ball. Then the scene faded and the words "You're next, Red Coat,"  
appeared on the screen before a through the window view of Ray giving  
Fraser a love bite while a third man with his back to view took it's  
place before the tape jumped and Welsh hit pause as saw Doug laughing  
as Fraser had a tug of war with Deifenbaker over a bag of potato chips.  
Welsh looked up at Kowalski, then pointed at Doug.  
"Do you have  
any idea who that is?"  
Kowalski looked uncomfortable.  
"You  
know who he is."  
"Fraser introduced me to him, once, his names  
Damon, and he's.." Kowalski trailed off.  
"He's what?"  
Kowalski sighed.  
"He's Fraser's lover."  
"What?!"  
"It surprised me too."  
"How long has.."  
"A few weeks."  
"What else do you know about this man?"  
"Apparently he runs a  
private security firm in Los Angeles, and flies out regularly to spend  
time with Fraser...Oh, and he's Canadian too."  
"Like hell he is  
that's Douglas Montray."  
"I thought you said he was dead.." Kowlaski  
said in confusion.  
Welsh hit play watching the remainder of the  
tape, which involved Fraser behind hugged and kissed by Doug in various  
settings.  
"That's what I thought too. But there's no mistake,  
that *is* Douglas Montray."  
He paused again as a shot of Doug  
minus his shirt in Fraser's apartment came on the screen, his back was  
clearly on view as he faced Fraser. Welsh pointed to the scar on his  
back.  
"There that scar.."  
"Douglas had one there?"  
"McGrath gave it to him. He was Vecchio's partner before he became a  
detective.. He's the one who allegedly caught Doug trying to steal the  
weapons from the locker."  
"He put a bullet in the man's back?"  
Welsh nodded and stopped the tape rewinding it.  
"A few month's  
later.. Vecchio shot him dead, in self defence."  
"McGrath?"  
Welsh nodded and Kowalski went back over what Welsh had told him earlier.  
"Vecchio was trying to solve an unsolved murder in his spare  
time. By anything but coincidence Montray happened to be investing the  
same murder in his free time when McGrath *allegedly* caught him stealing  
weapons. Montray went to jail on the strength of McGrath's testimony  
against him alone, after McGrath tried to kill Vecchio people started  
wondering how much truth there was in his story about what happened that  
night. There was a huge investigation, that uncovered a massive amount  
of record fixing, a long list of cases where evidence vanished, or witnesses  
changed their testimony after he got involved.. And at least 6 murder's  
that he remains the prime suspect for.. Thanks to Vecchio uncovering  
his part in one of them without realizing he was telling the dirty cop  
he was looking for how he'd discovered there was one in our midst."  
"Is that why he didn't have a partner?"  
"He had two.. Three if  
you count Elizabet Browning."  
"Elizabet Browning?"  
"Don't  
ask.."

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

 

Ray drifted in and out of conscious over the next week,  
courtesy of the doctor's keeping him heavily sedate around the clock.  
When he did regain consciousness it was only for brief period's of time  
and he couldn't distinguish between fantasy and reality. He was never  
alone, when ever he awoke it was to find someone at his bed side, either  
Sheba, Doug or Fraser, who would reassure him that he was safe, in a  
hospital, and tell him not to move or try to talk.  
After the  
doctor's came to a consensus that his burns were healing nicely, he was  
relieved of the restraints that held him still and kept him from aggravating  
the healing burns that covered his body, and then of the tube down his  
throat and given an air mask that fed him straight oxygen in it's place.  
When his period's of consciousness began to outlast his period's of unconsciousness  
Sheba and Fraser stopped appearing at his bed side much to his disappointment.  
He missed listening to Fraser reading to him, and Sheba, well, she was  
easy on the eyes and gave him something far more visually stimulating  
that the fly spots on the roof.  
"Dougie," Ray croaked as Doug  
approached the bed.  
Doug reached out to lay a hand on his shoulder.  
"Ah so he has a tongue after all."  
"Hurts..to.. talk."  
"You were breathing in some pretty toxic smoke it burned your throat  
and lungs from the inside."  
"T'was Alessssandero."  
"I know,  
Amoroso."  
"Ssssadistic..bassstard..Toying..withhh me.. before..he..  
went..in fffor  
thffe.. kill.. wif zhat plosive."  
Doug began  
to run around Ray's shoulder tracing tiny patterns against that highly  
sensitive skin.  
"You can tell me all the grizzly detail's when  
doing it doesn't cause you  
pain, Sunshine."  
"Benniieee here?"  
"No, Benton's not here."  
"Wazzz here?"  
"Yes, he was here."  
"Where...now?"  
"He's somewhere safe, where he'll stay until Alessandro  
has been dealt with."  
Ray raised a shaky hand to touch Doug's  
face. =yeouch=  
"Don' kill.."  
Doug raised a brow.  
"Zat..ssssadiztz doz'nt 'ssservez quick clean..death, 'servez the  
'letric..chhhair."  
Doug gave a very faint smile and gently took Ray's hand and set it back  
down.  
"I promise, that if there's anyway to take him in alive,  
I'll do it.. That is if the Don's men don't get him first. I warned Sheba,  
and she got to him, and made him get his family out of the house, and  
not a moment too soon, as they were driving away the house went up in  
a huge fire ball...There was wreckage scattered all over the block after  
that explosion."  
"Bet he'zz pizzed.."  
"All the boy's are  
looking for Alessandro now."  
"Meant zzandro..Thaz two timez he  
tried a f.failed. to take out hiz  
tarrgerrtz. Next..one..he goez affter  
iz gonna sssuffferrr frr it."  


Ray drift his way to consciousness  
aware that he wasn't alone and his eyes  
fluttered open then widened.  
=ohmig-d=  
Out came a hand to pat his.  
=yeowitch=  
"Surprise, son."  
=Ohmig-d..what do I do now? What do I call him?  
I thought they said he and  
his father didn't talk. Oh lord why didn't  
I work out this guy was his  
father. I shoulda known, shoulda guessed=  
A shimmer off to the side caught his eye and he looked around to see  
Lizzie  
appear.  
=Oh lord, Lizzie!=  
Andrew "The Saint" Langoustini,  
Father of Armando, Paramour and Sugar  
Daddy to the late Elizabet Browning  
gave a sudden shudder and turned slowly to look around, and see the wraith  
of his late Paramour. He crossed himself and eyed her off, up and down,  
drinking in the sight of her, then he glanced at Ray before spinning  
to march across the room and shut the door. Ray watched him return warily,  
growing more worried by the second as the man returned to the bed and  
leaned over him.  
"You are not my son, you're that Detective from  
Chicago, Raymond Vecchio,"  
Langoustini Snr growled.  
"Wha.."  
"Oh don't waste your precious breath denying it, Mr Vecchio, I'm well  
aware Lizzie's ghost started following you around a few years ago.. When  
you still had hair on your head."  
=I'm a dead man=  
"Because  
you were the spitting image of me as I looked back in the twenties."  
Ray's glance slid to the side to look at Lizzie and his eyes widened  
as he saw her form shifting and changing to become something out of a  
man's worst nightmares. Langoustini Snr looked around and jumped.  
"Mama Mia!"  
He started rising from the floor as Ray's Spectral  
visitor stretched out a clawed hand to wrap it around his throat.  
"Lizzie *no!* Put him down," Ray said, enunciating every word slow and  
clear."  
She looked at him with her now glowing eyes.  
"I  
said, put him *down*."  
She dropped him, and he staggered back  
against the bed, rubbing his throat and shuddering all over.  
"You'll  
have to forgive her, she's *very* protective."  
Langoustini Snr  
looked at him and then back to Lizzie a flow of soft spoken Italian falling  
from his lips. Ray watched and listened, and the drumming of his heart  
began to slow down as he relaxed, as Langoustini Snr's declaration that  
he had kept his word to Lizzie and wouldn't harm a hair on Ray's head  
induced the specter to shift and change. He let out a pent up breath  
he hadn't realized he'd been holding as she took on the form of the gorgeous  
bombshell he'd come to know so well after the ghost had started following  
him around.  
He idly wondered why she was appearing now, though  
as Armando's father had  
pointed out her ghost had followed him around,  
he'd only seen her wraith once since he'd finally uncovered her grizzly  
remains and arranged a decent burial once the coroner was through with  
them. She'd appeared to him again when he'd visited her simple grave  
to tell her he'd worked out who murdered her all those years ago and  
closed the case once and for all, making sure the fact was publicized  
so the whole world knew what an animal her killer had been. She'd never  
looked more beautiful than she had when she'd smiled her radiant smile,  
then faded away. The priest who'd followed him to her grave site had  
delivered the last rites again over her grave and assured him her ghost  
would never haunt him again, now he'd given her the justice she'd needed  
to pass over.  
=Guess he was wrong about that or maybe it's the  
old man=  
"You shoulda been at her funeral," Ray said.  
Langoustini  
Snr looked at him.  
"I didn't find out you'd found her body and  
put her to rest until long after the fact. I have visited her grave,  
she deserved a much better final resting place."  
"Yeah, well,  
I didn't have the means to give her anything fancy, at the time, but  
I went one better when solving her murder made me a rich man... I plowed  
the whole reward into buying the estate where I found her remains and  
turned it into a park, there's a memorial there, in the middle of the  
lake, with a big statue of her. One of her numerous admirer's made it,  
you should see it.. It really is an incredible piece of work, I thought  
it captured her..." Ray smiled faintly, "Spirit."  
Langoustini  
Snr smiled faintly at that.  
"I made her a promise, the night she  
vanished, to cut my ties with the Mafia.. I kept my word, my son was  
always a great disappointment to me, I thought this would be the ideal  
time to talk him into leaving the syndicate. But it would seem he already  
did so. Making a deal with the Police to make a new life for himself."  
Ray looked away.  
"He's dead, isn't he.." Langoustini Snr said  
in a heavy voice.  
Ray nodded.  
Langoustini Snr sighed deeply  
and the ghost fluttered around him, he turned to face it and her spectral  
finger's touched his face, he tried to return the touch but his hand  
just passed through her. Then she faded away and he sighed again and  
looked at Ray.  
"If you ever meet a woman like that, take my advice,  
marry her."  
Ray smiled faintly.  
"When god made Lizzie,  
he broke the mold, she was one of a kind."  
"She was at that."  
Then he patted Ray's arm.  
=Owitch, I wish people would *stop*  
touching me, do they think I'm covered in bandages for the hell of it?=  
"Rest easy, Detective, no one will learn of the switch through me. You're  
secret is safe with me, I owe you a debt, for, uncovering the truth,  
and making your discovery public, clearing my name after 60 years."  
"It was your Mafia compadre's who were the prime suspect's which is why  
the CPD gave them such a hard time that they were driven out, they always  
thought they killed her off because of her influence over you."  
"They weren't the only one's who thought it, until you uncovered the  
true circumstances behind her disappearance I always thought they'd done  
it too, which is why I cut all my ties with them. And when you are well  
enough to leave here, I will send a car for you, you will stay with me  
until this Scorpio is dealt with."  
"Thank you for the offer, sir  
but.."  
"I will hear no arguments, I would do it for Armando, whether  
he liked it or not.. I will do it for you, and while I'm at it, I would  
think twice about dealing with Damon. The Stallion is an extremely dangerous  
man and one who cultivated a relationship with my son out of sexual interest  
rather than because of his connections in the Syndicate."  
"I'm  
aware of that. I'm surprised that you are consider that you didn't maintain  
a good relationship with him."  
"I have my sources.. who kept tab's  
on Armando for me.. I was waiting for the perfect time to move in and  
get him out but it seems that time will never come now."  
  


*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

"So you think I should go with the old man?"  
"Absolutely, Caro,  
his place is a veritable fortress it would take a better man than Alessandro  
to breach it's walls, you couldn't find a better place to hole up for  
the time being. And it shouldn't be hard to fool the old man, it's not  
like and Armando were on speaking terms."  
"Yeah, so I heard."  
"Just give him the cold shoulder, and snap at him in Italian now and  
then, call him things like a senile old fool and an old goat and you  
should have no trouble at all."  
"So you've met."  
"He showed  
up when I was having a meal with Armando at a restaurant one time, had  
his men drag him out and shove him in his limo, locked him up in that  
fortress for a week and showed up at my place later to give me a piece  
of mind, not to mention a lecture on how I'd go to hell for my sins.  
It seems Armando told him he was gay just to make the old man back off  
and leave him alone."  
"So that's why they didn't talk to each  
other any more."  
"Until then the old man was always trying  
to get him to clean up his act and leave the syndicate. Some times I  
think he only agreed to suck up to me as ordered because he knew it pissed  
his father off no end."  
"One day you're going to tell me just  
how close you and Armando were."

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

As promised Langoustini Snr sent a car and a quartet of muscle men who  
made Doug look puny in comparison along to the hospital on the Day Ray  
was released. The quartet marched into the hospital caring a kevlar vest  
and over Ray's feigned protestations, he was bundled up in the cape and  
covered from head to foot before being literally carried out to the bullet  
proof Limo and installed inside. Ray's bag was tossed into the boot before  
the last Muscle Man climbed in and the car purred away.  
Across  
the way on the roof top of an adjacent building Alessandro cursed  
"Saint"  
Andrew Langoustini for deciding it was the perfect time to abduct his  
wayward son again. He knew there was no way he'd get past the security  
system in that fortress he called his home and skulked away his devious  
mind working away plotting and scheming his next move. The Stallion was  
too hard to kill, the Mountie had as good as disappeared, the Don was  
being protected by a cadre of the best body guards in the business, his  
family had been sent away, g-d only knows where, and now the man who'd  
handed him over to that bitches at the brothel was out of his reach too.  
Somehow he had to find a way to lure one or all of them out into  
the open and he wasn't stupid, he knew that wasn't going to happen until  
he was either filling a cell or dead, with the possible exception being  
"the Bookman" who wouldn't care less if his life was in danger and do  
whatever it took to get out of his puritanical father's clutches, but  
then again, the so called Saint could be anything but when it came to  
keeping his son exactly where he wanted him to be. He wouldn't put it  
past the old buzzard to put his son in cuffs and chains to keep him in  
his the fortress until the threat to his life was removed.  
As  
he slipped down the fire stairs the sadist in him chuckled to himself  
at that thought, Armando might be *safe* but gilded cage or not he was  
going to be suffering one of the things he considered to be a fate worse  
than death, being in his father's clutches. He could just imagine it,  
it was quite easy to do, after all Armando had described his old man's  
habit's in graphic detail.  
There'd be those muscle bound idiots  
who'd follow him *everywhere* he went, the *healthy* food and herbal  
drinks and tonic's he'd have to eat or drink because they were good for  
him, and to hell with whether or not he wanted to consume such things,  
he'd be made to do it. Then there's be those long pedantic speeches and  
lecture's on his sinful ways and how's gods wrath would fall on his head  
if he didn't change his wicked ways, and the ultimate torture being forced  
to sit with the old man and either listen to him read from the bible  
or as he played those scratchy old gramophone records of the love his  
life singing.  
=Sometimes fate can be so cruel *chuckle*=  
  


*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Ray woke from  
a restless sleep involving nightmares about being victimized by Alessandro  
chilled to the bone, his eyes opened and he started and almost screamed  
out as he saw Lizzie floating above him smiling down at him wearing nothing  
but her jewels and few strategically placed feathers and spangles.  
Hand to his chest he stilled the thundering beating of his heart and  
calmed his breathing while shooting a glare at her.  
"Don't do  
that to a man, you almost scared me half to death."  
=:Go back  
to sleep and I'll take care of the other half and chase you around for  
the rest of eternity:=  
"Ha-ha."  
"You were thinking about  
me earlier."  
"He played a pile of records he had made of you singing."  
=:What did you think?:=  
"You know that I was thinking you had  
an incredible voice, minx, you know that old man would have a heart attack  
if he knew you're Angelic act was just a sucker trap, to get him to put  
a wedding ring on his finger."  
She chuckled and floated closer  
and his body began tingling as her spectral hand moved through the air  
over his body.  
=Oooohhh...Lord!=  
His moan's and cries as  
she took very effectively took his mind off Alessandro very made the  
body guard outside his door step in gun drawn to look around, to see  
him writhing around on the bed, as if in the throes of sexual ecstasy.  
With a mental chuckle the guard slipped back out of the room and idly  
wondered why it was so damned cold in that room.

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

 

  
Langoustini Snr left Ray in his palatial office playing computer  
games on his state of the art multimedia computer playing one of the  
CD copies of his gramophone records, while he went down to the kitchen  
to supervise the making of the nights meal.  
Ray surreptitiously  
watched him close the door behind him, then he grabbed the mouse and  
the arrow was flying over the screen as he rapidly clicked his way through  
various levels of the computer's programming till he found the Internet  
communications package and opened it. As fast as he could he accessed  
it and found the e-mail program and clicked on the e-mail program, giving  
a mental cry of jubilation as he found the old man had ticked the save  
password details and clicked on the O.K button.  
He was glad the  
CD was playing so loudly that the guard at the door wouldn't hear the  
noise of the modem dialing out and connecting. He watched and waited  
as it connected and the mail began loading down then clicked fast to  
cancel the down load and clicked the new message icon before he cracked  
his knuckles and got to work on the keyboard typing as fast as he could.

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Doug checked  
the recipe displayed on his lap top as he measured out the ingredients  
and the you have new mail message flashed in the middle of the screen  
before vanishing. He finished his measuring and called up his e-mail  
program to check his mail.  
=Hmmm, spam, spam and *MiaCaro@Senile.old.goat.com*!=  
He wasted no time in opening the message.

From: "You Know Who  
"  
To:  
Subject:  
Heeeeeelp!  
Content-Type: text/plain  
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1997 16:34:44  
GMT

You've got to get me out of here, I've well and truly  
recovered, and the old man won't let me leave, Even though he knows that  
I know that he got the news that someone did to Alessandro what he did  
to me and turned that S.O.B into ash in the process. This guy is completely  
*nuts*, if I get one more lecture of the evil's of junk food, wine, and  
fornication, I'm going to strangle him to death.

=Poor Ray  
*chuckle*=

Get me out of here before I LOSE MY MIND, BETWEEN  
THE GHOST AND HIM I'M  
CLIMBING THE WALLS HERE!!!!

=Ghost????=

Your Mia Caro.

P.S - Did I mention I heard him tell the muscle  
bound goons who watch me around the clock to get the cuff's and chain's  
and use them on me if they caught me trying to pick the locks on the  
window again.

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Ray was playing the computer game again and growling at the computer  
as his second last man bit the dust when the you have new mail message  
flashed across the screen.  
=Oh shit I forget to log off=  
He quickly paused the game and called up the e-mail program and was about  
to shut it down when it occurred to him that if Doug happened to be working  
on his computer that he might have gotten the message already and sent  
a reply. With fingers crossed he clicked on send and receive and watched  
over a dozen messages load down, then almost jumped for joy when he saw  
one with Doug's e-mail addy on it. He opened the message in a flash.

From:  
"You Know Who "  
To: Damon Knight (ItalianStallion@Jfa.org.com)  
Subject:  
Re:Heeeeeelp!  
Content-Type: text/plain  
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1997 16:44:32  
GMT  
  
>This guy is completely *nuts*, if I get one more lecture  
of >the evil's of junk food, wine, and fornication, I'm going >to strangle  
him to death.

Try to resist the urge to do it.

>   
Get me out of here before I LOSE MY MIND, BETWEEN THE >GHOST AND HIM  
I'M  
CLIMBING THE WALLS HERE!!!!  
  
GHOST????? What Ghost????

>  
P.S - Did I mention I heard him tell the muscle bound >goons who watch  
me around the clock to get the cuff's and >chain's and use them on me  
if they caught me trying to pick >the locks on the window again.

Cuff's 'n chains.. Hmmmm..

But seriously, I thought you were  
still recovering from Alessandro's attempt to kill you and taking advantage  
of the security of that fortress.  
I knew the old guy was batty but  
I didn't think he was *that* batty. Hang on, Amoroso, I'll get you out  
of there.

D.M

=Yes!=

Then his finger's  
were flying over the keyboard and he was responding to  
the message  
before he sent the reply on its way, erased the message from the main  
inbox, and remembered at the last minute to delete it from the deleted  
messages box and both messages from the sent items folder to cover his  
tracks. Then he took care of the slight changes he'd made in the options  
box so Doug would know who sent the message instantly. He had just logged  
off and was about to shut the program down when the door opened and Langoustini  
Snr entered the room.  
He shut the program down fast and reopened  
the game and started it up again muttering under his breath as he snatched  
up the joystick and had Mario dodging barrels and bounding around the  
screen again. He pretended to be thoroughly engrossed in the game  
and was aware of the old man crossing the room to move around the desk  
and hover at his shoulder.  
"Level three.. Is that the best you  
can do?"  
"It's those damned spring things, every time I get close  
enough to start working my way up, one of them flattens Mario."  


*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Ray awoke  
from a dream where the old man slipped him some poison in his disgusting  
herbal tea to have Lizzie's ghost all to himself and looked around for  
the ghost and frowned confused when he didn't see her. Wondering what  
had woken him up he sat up and jumped half out of his skin when a strange  
scraping noise drew his attention to the huge window's in the corner  
of the room, if you could say that the circular half of the room had  
corners that is.  
He scrambled out of the bed, pulling on his  
night gown, then rushed to the window to catch the man sized sheet of  
glass that came from the man sized hole that Doug had just used a diamond  
cutter to create in the window. He carefully set the sheet of glass aside  
then turned to watched Doug swing into the room via the mountaineer's  
rig he had on over his black Ninja outfit.  
"Doug?"  
He nodded  
and mimed getting dressed. Ray nodded and tiptoed through the room to  
collect warm clothes and started dressing. Doug, meanwhile, detached  
himself from the rig and clipped the rope to the edge of the hole before  
he silent moved through the room, pulling another rope from his belt  
and crossed to the huge doors and ever so efficiently wrapped it around  
the door handles with multiple loops and clever knots.  
Ray picked  
the darkest clothes he could find among Armando's clothes and pulled  
them on hurriedly. He turned away from closing the walk in robe to find  
Doug watching him with a positively lecherous look in his eyes from near  
by and swatted him.  
"Get your mind above your waistline," he hissed.  
Doug rolled his eyes and hustled Ray over to the window and clipped him  
into the harness.  
"All right, now, I've attached a pulley rig  
to the stone work above the window, there's enough rope attached to it  
to get you to the pool deck, wait till you hear me make like a bird and  
then drop the end of the rope down and as quietly as possible climb out,  
I'll help you make the descent without any noise," Doug announced in  
a whisper.  
Ray nodded and watched him pull a pair of spiked hand  
bands out and strap them on before he clambered out the window. He poked  
his head out and watched highly impressed when he saw Doug climb down  
the wall silently like a Ninja.  
=*hee-hee* He not only dressed  
like one but moves like one=  
Doug looked up, then signaled him.  
Ray slipped the rope out and dropped it over Doug's position and saw  
him catch it and tie it around his waist, one handed. He waited till  
Doug signaled him again then climbed out and with a deep breath awkwardly  
turned and dropped down, letting Doug control his descent. Looking up  
he saw the pulley system embedded in the sandstone above the window and  
wondered how Doug had got it hammered in without making any noise.  
He dangled to a stop and looked around to find himself level with Doug.  
Doug  
pantomimed getting a grip on the stone and pointed out that there were  
gaps between the sandstone blocks. Ray obeyed the silent command and  
got his fingers in the gaps and in the process discovered that Doug had  
removed the mortar that had filled the gaps before his arrival.  
With a jolt he realized Doug had moved on then the man was positioning  
his feet against the stone. He looked down and once Doug had his body  
in the position he wanted it in, the Italio-Candadian Ninja scrambled  
back up the wall to whisper what he wanted Ray to do when he got the  
signal. Ray nodded, then watched as Douglas scrambled down the wall to  
the level of the picture window below. He saw him peeking into the room  
and then scrambling down below the window and free up more of the rope,  
while keeping it taunt, then he was being given the signal.  
Putting  
his faith in Doug's skills, not to mention his upper body strength, Ray  
let go of the wall and grabbed the rope and let himself fall into a vertical  
crouch before he pushed off away from the wall with all his might. He  
went flying out from the wall and down. He came to a dead stop directly  
below the window and his momentum at the end of the swing slammed him  
into Doug. He wrapped an arm around and whispered, "Sorry," in his ear.

"S'ok, I knew you'd hit the wall about here and put myself here to stop  
you do it," Doug responded.  
Then he was sliding away, and getting  
Ray to move into the same position.  
Ray moved into position with very  
little direction being needed second time  
around, and Doug scrambled  
down the wall to check out the French patio doors below before he loosened  
the rope, holding it taunt, before he made the short jump to the deck  
below. Ray watched as he came down in a crouch, then rose up and gave  
him the signal. Ray pushed off and sailed down the wall, this time he  
found himself being caught from behind by a pair of strong arms at the  
end of the swing as he started to swing toward the patio doors.  
The was rapidly untangled and Doug was hustling him into the shadow's  
and telling him to huddle out of sight behind a huge planter pot and  
keep his head down, which Ray did as told, until Doug moved away, and  
then peeped over the top to watch Doug scramble rapidly back up the wall,  
wrapping the rope around himself as he went. Then when he reached the  
top of the window he'd entered the fortress via, he carefully extracted  
the pulley system and tucked it into his belt before making like a spider  
and scuttling back down the wall.  
When Doug returned, he gave  
Rap a clip around the head that made him see stars and hissed "When I  
tell you to do something, you do *exactly* what I tell you." Rubbing  
his stinging ear and cheek the chastened Ray nodded. After that he did  
everything he was told, and resisted the impulse to do things he knew  
would get him another clip around the ear if Doug caught him disobeying  
orders.  
The escape from the fortress was a slow and stealthily  
endeavor, or it had been until all the lights in the place came on and  
strident alarms broke the nights stillness with their shrieking tones.  
Doug grabbed his arm and then he was being lifted up and carried in those  
arms as Doug bolted across the lawn.  
Gun shots Rang out, and over  
Doug's shoulder Ray saw four of the muscle bound goons up on the pool  
deck with rifles taking aim not that they could hit the zigzagging Ninja  
who was carrying him off, Doug's pattern of movement was anything but  
predictable and the bullets they fired kept hitting the dirt and sending  
up puffs of earth and grass in their wake. Then they reached the hedge  
and Doug set him down and told him to crawl through the hole under it.  
"On you're belly, there's an electrical fence hidden inside the hedge."  
Ray slithered through the fresh dug hole under the hedge then discovered  
there was something covering the hole at the over end as he rolled and  
scrambled up into a crouch and looked around. He pulled the material  
away .  
=O.K we're out of sight now= He looked at the material then  
realized it  
was a camaflouge cape and pulled it on. A bullet passed  
through the hedge and Ray felt the heat of it's passing across the bridge  
of his nose and reared back and fell over. Doug slithered through the  
hole, twisting around as he went and then scrambled out and clucked over  
him.  
"I'm O.K one of those bullets came too close for comfort  
and startled me that's all. What now?"  
Doug pointed off into the  
darkness.  
"The car's over there, follow me and zigzag like I did  
across the grounds."  
Ray nodded wondering why Doug didn't  
decided to pick him and carry him again, then Doug was racing off into  
the night, and Ray bolted after him and tried to keep up, sure he'd loose  
him in the shadow's if he got too far ahead. He heard the rifles being  
fired again and again, but no bullets came close it seemed the goons  
had lost sight of them beyond the hedge and were firing at their last  
known position, while Doug's path took them directly out of the area  
and into deep shadows.  
He saw Doug disappear behind a cluster  
of bushed and followed him around to see a matte black Porsche hidden  
out of sight behind them. Doug unlocked the passenger side door then  
threw himself over the hood sliding over it to get in while Ray was sliding  
into the passenger seat and belting up.  
"Nice car."  
"It  
was a lot nicer before I sand blasted the sheen off it so it didn't reflect  
light."  
Ray winced at that act of sensible vandalism and wisely  
said nothing about his opinion of doing that to such a fine vehicle as  
Doug put the car into gear and drove off slowly, keeping the car close  
to the vegetation till the car reached the road then, he was thrown back  
into his seat as the pedal hit the metal and Doug once more demonstrated  
his ability to race at high speeds.

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Two hours later, the sleek car purred into a garage, and Doug climbed  
out to unlock the other car that sat in the garage. Ray climbed out to  
look it over. The only word to describe it was beat up. It looked like  
the sort of Junker you usually found rusting by the side of the road  
along barren sections of the high ways through no man's land. With a  
shrug he got in as ordered and to his surprise found the interior of  
the car didn't match its exterior appearance. The same could be said  
for it's performance as Doug drove it through the streets, it purred  
like a kitten.  
"New car, old body," Doug explained at a curious  
glance from Ray.  
"Ah, window dressing."  
"No one expects  
me to drive a car that looks like this one does at first sight and no  
one ever gets close enough to this car to see what it looks like inside."  
"The sound.."  
"There's a sound system under the hood making all  
the right noises to disguise the fact there's nothing old and beat up  
under it."  
"You're *soooo* efficient," Ray teased.  
"You'll  
get a chance to show me how efficient you are when we get back to my  
apartment."

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Ray had thought Doug was hinting at a show of gratitude of the sexual  
kind, but he was in for a big surprise when after following Doug through  
the secret passage to the bed room, his attempt to do just that resulted  
in behind pushed away and Doug heading for the bathroom. He hesitated  
to follow him, then the light came on and he did a double take as he  
saw the trail of blood spots across the expensive Chinese carpet on the  
floor leading to the bathroom.  
Without a second thought he hurried  
into the bathroom and watched Doug pull off his tunic and set it aside.  
It clinked and Ray suspected some of the Ninja style weapons he'd found  
secreted in the kitchen were hidden in it's folds, then he was moving  
for the bathroom cabinet as he saw the kevlar vest with a puncture hole  
at the shoulder. He pulled out medical supplies as Doug got the vest  
off, then wincing in sympathy Ray got to work on dealing with the bullet  
that was embedded in his shoulder.  
"Mig-d, why didn't you say  
something!"  
"I was trained to ignore pain by my sensi."  
"Yeah, well, ignoring the pain of a bullet in your shoulder is just plain  
stupid when there's someone else who can drive beside you. You could  
have bleed to death."  
"How bad is it."  
The clink of an  
extracted bullet dropping into the small ceramic finger bowl Ray had  
pulled out the cabinet was his answer.  
"Nowhere near as bad as  
it could have been."  
He ripped a bunch of cotton wool off the  
roll he'd taken from the cabinet and wrapped it in a tissue then pressed  
it to Doug's shoulder. Doug's hand came up to hold it in place while  
Ray prepared a bowl of antiseptic solution.  
"Lay your hands on  
the front of that bench."  
Ray looked at him, a brow raised.  
"There's a secret compartment behind it. Put your hands on it and slide  
one hand left and the other right at the same time and it will slide  
open."  
Ray obeyed and it did. He squatted down and looked into  
the compartment to find a box of syringes amongst other things. He pulled  
a syringe from the box and looked at Doug.  
"In the fridge, in  
the Butter tub, top shelf, to the left, you'll find half a dozen bottles,  
get the one with the green dot on the cap."  
=Aha=  
"Then  
inject about 30cc's it into my shoulder, after that you can clean it  
up, it'll take a few minutes to take effect but once it does you can  
stitch up the wound for me."  
Ray barely suppressed the shudder  
that statement engendered and nodded before moving out of the bathroom  
hurrying into the kitchen to collect the requested bottle of pain killer.  
When he returned with the loaded syringe he found the secret compartment  
had been closed and Doug was sitting on the lip of the spa, his feet  
in it, his back to the sink.  
"That was fast," Doug remarked.  
"I don't want you to bleed to death on me," Ray said, knowing Doug wouldn't  
appreciate knowing it hadn't taken long because he already knew exactly  
what was in that tub and had peeked at all the bottles.  
"I have  
to say it's an interesting place to stash your medication."  
"It  
keeps longer if it's refrigerated."  
"I meant the tub," Ray said  
as he injected him.  
"Oh."  
Ray prepared swabs and a found  
a threaded needle and tweezers soaking in the antiseptic solution. Steeling  
himself he cleaned up the wound and took the time to examine it closely  
while he waited for the shot to take effect. A few pokes to test the  
effectiveness of the drug later Ray began the delicate task of stitching  
up the wound and used the tiniest stitches he could make using the fine  
surgical thread to do it. Doug stoically took it all without so much  
as a wince during the process and only looked over his shoulder when  
Ray dabbed at it with a tissue wrapped puff of cotton wool to dry the  
area before he sprinkled it with antiseptic powder and bandaged it.  
"There done, that'll be 250 dollar's thank-you, will that be cash or  
cheque or do you have a health fund."  
Doug chuckled and Ray cleaned  
up the sink, disposing of the used items through the incinerator chute  
before he cleaned up the blood with antiseptic and a tissue or five before  
they joined the rest of the items down the chute. He jumped when he felt  
Doug's arms wrap around him, then the big man was nuzzling at his ear.  
"Have I mentioned that I love you, Sunshine?"  
"Constantly," Ray  
chuckled as he leaned back into the embrace and arched his neck to give  
Doug better access to it.  
He almost purred as Doug took advantage  
of it to pepper his throat in kisses and love bites.  
"G-d, When  
I felt heard and felt that explosion down in the Car park I thought I'd  
lost you," Doug said as is hands began to wander to pop buttons and open  
zips.  
"And I thought I was going to die down there until you came  
out of the smoke and carried me away from that inferno."  
"I couldn't  
believe it when I patched into the security cam and saw you huddled behind  
that pillar. I don't think I've slithered into my leather's faster in  
my life."  
Ray chuckled and turned in Doug's arms to cup his face  
and kiss him thoroughly.  
"That's for saving my life," He said,  
then kissed him again.  
"That's for rescuing me from that crazy  
man," he said, then he slid down  
Doug's body and with a little work  
freed his sex and gave him a far more inmate kind of kiss.  
Doug  
gave a pleased little growl then dragged him back up and pushed him against  
the wall.  
"And what was that for?"  
"That was risking your  
life to save mine, and it would probably take me the rest of the night  
to show you just how grateful I am ," Ray said in a suggestive tone of  
voice.  
Doug kissed him with a passion before he backed up, took  
his hand and lead him into the bedroom.  
"Promises, promises."

 

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